12.12.17

Russia begins its partial withdrawal from Syria

The first group of Russian troops deployed to Syria returned home on
Tuesday, the army said, beginning a partial withdrawal announced by
President Vladimir Putin.
“The battalion of military police from the southern military district
(of Russia) deployed to the Syrian Arab Republic has been flown by two
military planes to Makhachkala (the capital of Dagestan) airport,” the
Russian army said in a statement.
State television broadcasted images of soldiers marching out of the
aircraft onto a sunny runway in the small republic in Russia’s North
Caucasus.

The crews of Tu-22M3 bombers also returned to a military airport in
North Ossetia before flying out to their permanent bases, the army said.
On a visit to Syria on Monday, Putin ordered the partial withdrawal
of Russian troops from the war-torn country, saying their task had been
largely completed.
It was the third announcement of a partial withdrawal since troops
were deployed in 2015. Putin did not clarify how many soldiers will be
returning home this time.
Putin, who announced last week he would seek a fourth term in a poll
in March, was welcomed at Russia’s Hmeimim airbase by Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad on his unannounced stopover.
Russia first intervened in the Syrian conflict in 2015, staging air
strikes in support of its ally Damascus targeting both the Islamic State
group and other jihadists as well as rebels fighting government troops.
The size of the Russian deployment in Syria is not known but
independent Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer has told AFP that
up to 10,000 troops and private contractors could have taken part in the
conflict.
More than 340,000 people have been killed since the conflict broke
out in March 2011 with protests against Assad’s rule that sparked a
brutal crackdown.
On Thursday, Moscow announced a “total liberation” of Syrian
territory from IS, even though the jihadist group still controls several
pockets in the country.
Putin said both Russia’s airbase Hmeimim and naval facility in Tartus would continue to function.
The Russian president made the Syria stopover, the first by a Russian
head of state since president Dmitry Medvedev visited in 2010, en route
to Egypt, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.